In the BOB Cash thread someone spoke of banks adding redundancies for their ATM's etc.

It brought back a problem we encountered here in my small suburb of the DFW metroplex.

When I was with SBC (now A.T.&.T.), I worked in my own home town wire center (exchange). Each wire center has its own Central Office (C.O.) Each C.O. must then connect via some means of backhaul (Fiber, Microwave, etc.) to other C.O.'s. Almost all C.O.'s have redundant backhaul lines to get voice/data out of the local area, but some don't.
The town I live/work in is a single strand (single backhaul) wire center. We all knew where it ran along side the road, and watched the area closely for unauthorized excavations that would endanger it. Then an old water main burst and the city was digging before we could stop them. When they cut the single strand, they effectively cut-off all communications to the outside world from our C.O. We could send/receive land line calls inside the exchange C.O., but cell and calls outside the C.O. were NO GO.

It might not hurt to ask your telco if you live in a single strand exchange. That way if it does get cut, you can know where to move with your cell phone to reach towers served by another exchange C.O.